The present invention is directed toward a fishing rig and, more particularly, to the type of fishing rig commonly referred to as dead bait tackle generally used for catching big game fish by trolling.
The double hook rigging of bait on a tackle line for catching game fish has been notoriously time consuming and frustrating for the fisherman. The bait which is normally in the form of a small dead fish must be attached in such a way as to impart life-like action to the fish and to retain the bait in a very natural position to simulate the bait as it would normally appear if it were swimming. Several devices have been proposed in the past that have attempted to accomplish this result but all have failed for one reason or another.
Because of the way that many of the prior art devices are attached to the dead fish, they tend to pull the same from the back or underside of the fish which causes the fish to curl when drawn in the water during a trolling operation. Other riggings that attempt to avoid this problem are frequently more complicated arrangements that can either be too costly or too time consuming to utilize.
Furthermore, even with riggings that have been created which do properly attach a bait fish to the same, the cable used in making the rigs is normally relatively rigid so as to give the same the proper strength. This rigidity of the cable, however, also prevents the bait from having a natural swimming appearance when trolling.
Such prior art fishing rigs are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,193,962; 3,327,423; 3,736,691; 4,688,347 and 5,218,780. To Applicant's knowledge, however, none of these prior art devices has ever been satisfactory as they all possess one or more of the deficiencies described above.